The interior compartments of vehicles are commonly decorated with luxurious items such as leather appointments, wood grain paneling and other features to provide a luxurious and more aesthetically appealing interior for the passengers. It is important that these components provide a special aesthetic appeal and help to sell the product. Consumers are extremely demanding, as are the manufacturers. The quality of these components and durability must be such that they survive the normal wear and tear provided with constant use. One such component of particular interest is the steering wheel assembly. The steering wheel assembly and other components such as the gear shift, door paneling, windows, visors, dash, center console and even the seats can be decorated with leather appointments or simulated leather or leather equivalents to give the appearance of a luxurious feel. In combination with leather it is often desirable to provide other decorative elements either embedded in the leather or on the surface of the leather such that the leather is aesthetically improved by the addition of these decorative elements.
Oftentimes the decorative elements are wood, wood grain or wood simulated plastic components that have a wood grain pattern painted or printed on them. Alternatively the decorative component can be hard lacquer painted or chrome plated. All of which are provided in combination with leather appointments or leather simulated appointments to provide a more luxurious appearance.
In US 2002/0017157 A1 and US 2002/0026850 A1 a steering wheel is provided with a decorative element. The one or more decorative elements are used in combination with an outer leather wrap. These components while providing the necessary appeal are assembled on the steering wheel at the time of final assembly. These components are placed on the steering wheel rim. The steering wheel itself, commonly called an armature, has a center hub and several spokes extending from the hub and contacting an annular rim. The rim is generally coated in a polyurethane soft material that provides a very comfortable feel to the driver. This undercoating of urethane, while providing a very comfortable feel, also provides a surface that makes it difficult to wrap the leather component to the extent that there's no rigid surface for which the leather can be forcibly stretched upon. As such the urethane tends to deform locally in any location subject to force or pressure. This is particularly true in the case of these prior patents wherein the assembly is done at the final stage and the components are all applied directly onto the polyurethane coated rim of the steering wheel. Once assembled the rim and leather components are affixed thereto in such a fashion that should there be any damage or nick to the leather or to the decorative component the entire wheel assembly could be lost. This is particularly costly in that the armatures are substantially expensive and are a very sophisticated component in their own right. Therefore, it is of particular interest that when these assemblies are done they are in a state where the outer wrapping and decorative component are at minimal risk to damage or scratching prior to assembly unlike these prior art publications.
A second and equally more important problem associated with the assembly of decorative components onto steering wheels coated with polyurethane is that the leather is being stretched around the components which creates a large crevice; this crevice is generally at the interface between the edge of the decorative component and the leather. Attempts to retain the leather provides a reasonably way of assembly, however, they provide no way of ensuring that the crevice is minimized. While this crevice may seem of nominal interest at the time of assembly, during use it is an area where oil, grease and grit from the driver's hands and any other dirt can get caught leaving a very distinctive line of debris within the crevice that is visually noticeable and very difficult to clean. In particular the prior art radius of curvature of the leather adjacent a decorative component is substantially greater than 2 mm. This crevice created by this radius of curvature is unfortunate, but has been accepted in the industry as a necessary evil. The present invention provides an intermediate article of manufacture that can be pre-assembled, stored and subsequently at the last stage of final assembly be attached to a steering wheel, a gear shift or other component in such a fashion that should there be any defects in the subassembly the entire final assembly does not have to be discarded. The present invention further provides a more secure way of retaining the decorative element while improving the appearance at the interface and along the edges of the decorative component. This has not been achieved in the prior art.